Steel Post Foundation

[spamhead]

Hi,

I’m building a 7m wide car port using steel posts and beams as specified by the SE.

The bottom plate of the three supporting posts will be fixed to concrete foundation pads.

The driveway is wider than the car port and the surface is block paved.

We’d like to set the foundation pads beneath the drive surface so that they aren’t seen, so that the posts rise up through the drive surface.

My question is: if the bottom of the steel posts are set just below the block paving layer, will they rust prematurely? (They’ll be red oxide painted).

Many thanks.

 

[^woody^]

Yes they will. And red oxide is a primer/ undercoat not a finish

 

[JohnD]

Are you using bolt-down feet?

 

[spamhead]

Are you using bolt-down feet?

The 100mm posts have 330mm x 330mm x 15mm thick bottom plates. The plan was to resin/bolt the bottom plates directly to concrete foundation pads.

But the posts are situated in the middle of the driveway, so we don’t want the foundation pads to be seen above the driveway level.

 

[JohnD]

You can shutter and construct the pads so that the part rising above the ground is the size of the foot.

What colour are you going to paint the legs and feet?

Your feet are extraordinarily large. What is being built on top of them?

 

[spamhead]

You can shutter and construct the pads so that the part rising above the ground is the size of the foot.

What colour are you going to paint the legs and feet?

Your feet are extraordinarily large. What is being built on top of them?

It’s a 7m x 7m carport. There’s x3 203 x 203 x 46kg/m universal beams. Between the beams will be 6” timber joists, supporting Western Red Cedar cladding to the underside, and an EPDM roof surface. Between the steel posts to the side there’ll be stud walls clad in composite cladding.

 

[JohnD]

So the posts will be set into a wall?

 

[noseall]

But the posts are situated in the middle of the driveway, so we don’t want the foundation pads to be seen above the driveway level.

Set the post foundation pad heights 450mm+ below ground level. Buy longer posts then trap them down with more concrete poured on top.

 

[scbk]

If you want to extend the life of the steel, ask about getting them galvanised?

 

[^woody^]

Its quite simple.

Set the pad surface a distance below the ground surface equal to the block paving and bedding sand depth.
Paint the bottom of the posts with a good quality paint system